Tempe, Ariz. – It was supposed to be a shoot-out. Turns out, UCLA just had too much firepower.
Brett Hundley totaled over 400 yards of offense and junior cornerback Ishmael Adams had two returns for touchdowns as UCLA (4-0, 1-0) outscored Arizona State (3-1, 1-1) 45-10 over the final 43 minutes to rout the host Sun Devils 62-27.
The Bruins notched scores of 80, 95, 80 and 100 yards to overwhelm the Sun Devils in their most decisive and complete win of the season.
It certainly didn’t seem that way early on.
Despite playing without senior starting quarterback Taylor Kelly, the Sun Devils offense didn’t seem to skip a beat in the first quarter. Kelly’s replacement, redshirt junior Mike Bercovici had a solid initial quarter in his first career start, guiding Arizona State to three scores on its first four drives.
Bercovici (42-68, 488 yards) tossed touchdowns of five and 29-yards, while kicker Zane Gonzalez added an opening drive field goal to give the Sun Devils an early 17-6 lead.
UCLA was its own worst enemy through the first quarter as a personal foul penalty on sophomore linebacker Myles Jack extended the Sun Devils’ opening drive, while a pair of offensive penalties killed the Bruins’ opening possession. And despite forcing two turnovers early on – sophomore defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes stripped Arizona State running back D.J. Foster on the Sun Devils’ second drive while redshirt senior safety Anthony Jefferson made a spectacular no-look interception drives later – UCLA managed just three total points off of the two takeaways and settled for a pair of early field goals from junior kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn.
The second quarter – and the rest of the game – belonged to the Bruins. UCLA strung big play after big play together in its most complete performance of the year. Hundley (18-23, 355 yards) got things going by connecting with redshirt freshman Eldridge Massington on 3rd and 2 just past the first-down marker. Massington bounced off two Arizona State defenders and outran everybody, finishing in the end zone 80 yards later to make it 17-13 Sun Devils with 13:00 to go in the quarter.
Hundley would toss his second of four touchdowns through the air, finding redshirt sophomore fullback Nate Iese in the back of the end zone from 3 yards out to give the Bruins their first lead of the day at 20-17 with 2:13 remaining in the quarter.
Adams, who accumulated 296 all-purpose yards, ensured UCLA would never relinquish the lead – or the momentum – when he stepped in front of a Bercovici pass over the middle and went 95 yards the other way to give the Bruins a 27-17 halftime lead.
The UCLA offense kept its foot down to open the second half as Hundley threw a perfect pass to a sprinting Jordan Payton down the right sideline on the first play of the third quarter. The junior receiver raced 80 yards down the field for his first of two scores of the day to put UCLA ahead 34-17.
Arizona State would add a field goal on its next drive to make it a two-score game. But it was Adams again who answered. The junior cornerback took the ensuing kickoff 100 yards the other way to put UCLA ahead 41-20 with 9:08 to go in the third.
Freshman running back Nate Starks punched the ball in from 1 yard out 41 seconds later after sophomore linebacker Deon Hollins stripped Bercovici of the football and sophomore nose tackle Kenny Clark recovered it to get the Bruins the ball back.
Starks’ score capped a 42-3 Bruins run in a less-than-20-minute span over the second and third quarters.
Arizona State added a final score when Bercovici connected with receiver Ellis Jefferson with 4:10 to go in the third quarter.
The Bruins finished their rout with two more scores in the fourth. Hundley threw his second touchdown to Payton early in the fourth before adding a 1-yard score to give UCLA a 62-27 lead that proved to be the final.
Compiled by Jordan Lee, Bruin Sports senior staff.